HAN SUYIN - A MANY SPLENDOURED THING 1ST EDITION (CHINA) - HISTORICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY PERSPECTIVE

This is a book from a different age when it was possible to develop a theme more slowly but it remains a beautifully constructed many-layered novel. On the surface it is a love story but there is a fascinating historical perspective that is of particular interest as China's importance grows. Beneath those aspects is the insight into class and race prejudice that is as relevant today as it was in Hong Kong in the fifties. The book is strongly autobiographical yet remains a novel. Any reader would identify with or recognise characters from their own world. I can recommend this book to readers with the time to enjoy beautiful descriptive writing and a gentle yet thoroughly absorbing story of great humanity. This book was the greatest literary sucess with a wide reading public in the whole career of Han Suyin as a writer. It describes a great love affair between the Author (then a medical doctor in Hong Kong) and Ian Morrison, the foreign correspondent of the London Times and the son of the Australian George Morrison, once a renowned journalist working for the same daily. The love affair lasted several months only and it was suddenly interrupted by Ian's front line death in Korea, when reporting on the Korean war. In 1955, the book was made into a Hollywood's Twentieth Century Fox production 'Love Is a Many Splendoured Thing' (distinguished with two Academy awards), with Jennifer Jones and William Holden playing the main roles.
 London (Jonathan Cape) 1952. First ed. Green cloth good condition without dust cover, well-binded clean white pages book, no writing in book. Previous owner's name neatly on The Book Society Plate with Year and Place also on paste-down. Few marks on hardback cover.